I please remain standing for a few minutes.

It's my honor to give the invocation tonight.

I would like to start by saying that our 35th president of the United States on June 10th, 1963, said that tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs.

Rather, it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.

Our 40th president of the United States said in 1984 that we're still a nation comprised of good and decent people whose fundamental values of tolerance, compassion, and fair play guide and direct the decisions of our government.

And our 45th mayor of Billings asks you to bow your heads as we pray.

Dear God, as we gather this evening here in Billings, we pause to reflect on the strength of our community and the responsibility we share in guiding it forward.

In light of recent events and the challenges the spoty faces in the future, we ask for unity, patience, and understanding to shape our work tonight.

We ask for a spirit of calm, respect, and compassion.

Be present in all we do.

Please grant us the wisdom to recognize the value in every voice, knowing that each opinion, even when different from our own, reflects a neighbor who cares deeply about this city.

Help us listen with openness, speak with integrity, and consider every perspective with fairness and dignity.

May our efforts tonight support the safety, well-being, and hope of all who call Billings home.

Amen.

Thank you.

You may be seated.

Well, shall we call the roll?

Tony?

Councilmember Shaw?

Nicholson.

Mees.

President.

Pittman.

Present.

Aguirre.

Here.

Kennedy.

Here.

Aspenlighter?

Here.

Lindley.

Here.

Boyette.

O'Donnell.

Councilman O'Donnell is on the Zoom, but I don't see his face.

Huh.

We'll check back.

Right below, Roy.

Okay.

O'Donnell.

Here.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mayor Nelson.

Thank you.

All right.

We have uh minutes.

Uh November 24th, 2025 is still pending.

December 8th, 2025 is here for approval.

And December 15th, 2025 is here for approval.

Are there any questions or motions regarding these?

Councilperson Boyette.

Thank you, Mayor.

I I move that we approve the minutes for December 8th, 2025, and December 15th of 25 as read.

Thank you.

Second.

Councilman Nees seconds.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, same sign.

Well looks like they passed.

Council, do we have any courtesies tonight?

Hearing none, uh, we'll move to proclamations.

There are none of those.

So council reports.

Mr.

Kakulski, you're on.

For the administrative report, yes.

So just a couple of things.

Uh mayor and council.

So first of all, as uh you've seen and we are preparing for today as the unfortunate beginning of shutoffs relative to utility bills, it mostly is good news.

So over 97% of our utility customers were not under any situation that would have their water turned off because they are paying their bills or they are on a payment plan.

So that leaves uh roughly 3%.

Uh this morning for this cycle where the turnoffs were to begin.

Uh the morning started with 132, a little lower.

They're about 15 through the night.

Got things taking us care of.

So we had 132 shutoffs this morning, uh, or folks who are in that situation.

They were all turned off.

43 have been turned back on.

That's because they either came in and paid their bill or they got on a payment plan.

So, you know, we're somewhere south of 190 or so.

And what history would tell us is over the next few days, most all of those will get resolved as well.

Um, we want to thank our customers who are paying, as you are well aware.

We've got somewhere between three and five billion dollars of assets between our water, wastewater, storm water, and solid waste utilities.

And this is how they're paid for, and people paying uh their utility bills is critical to that.

We ask anyone as we continue.

This was the first pay cycle where turnoff started, those will continue for the next four weeks, four or five weeks that folks continue to the thresholds for turnoffs is they have a balance of that exceeds a hundred dollars, and they have not gotten a payment plan set up.

They get that payment plan, then they will not be turned off.

And the payment plans, because we went so long without turning off or late fees, that payment plan time period was extended.

It was more than tripled.

So prior to any of this, you had 90 days essentially to get yourself caught up.

Now we're allowing payment plans approved for up to one year.

There is still interest charges on it, though, so it is advantageous to pay it off as soon as possible.

But all those things uh move are moving us in the right direction.

Obviously, we don't like to turn anyone off, but that's where we are.

And my last thank you to the crews who do the work.

There was no incidents today relative to concerns in them doing their job.

And I would ask people to continue that.

They're just doing their jobs.

So that's the update on utilities.

Um as far as your board and commission agenda item for this evening, uh, they're on consent.

We had an error some years ago in the term uh limit end date.

So none of these changes tonight that were on consent.

They're simply correcting the end dates of those terms that people were appointed.

Not different names, not different appointments, just that end date.

Um Monday, January 19th, city offices are closed for Martin Luther King Day.

So that work session will be on the Tuesday.

Um regular agenda item number two, the Lockwood Water and Sewer Amendment.

We revised that information for the public on Friday, and you'll see Lewis will go through our recommendation uh this evening with our staff recommendation relative to the waiver right to protest and and and about the confusion there.

With that, uh, there's no ex parte communication that came in late this afternoon.

That is all that I have to update uh you, mayor, and council.

Thanks, Mr.

Kokulski.

Um, I inadvertently left out cancel reports, so I'll ask now.

Any reports from any councils.

Oh, great.

We're moving right along.

Okay, so I will.

Oh, I should have looked to the right too.

Yeah.

Um the Bobcats are national champions.

I don't know if anybody missed that.

Just want to make sure to say that out loud again.

Yeah, and the Bears won their first playoff game in about a thousand years, too.

So I'd like to bring that up.

All right, we're gonna move on to public comment on non-public hearing items.

So for tonight, that's a job.

You can speak on items one, three, and four only.

Uh, if you wish to speak, please sign in in the back there.

Ums on the items listed as public higher hearing items will be hold only during the designated public hearing time for each respective item.

So for items not on this agenda, public items will be taken at the end.

There we go.

So um, I'll open it up now for public hearing.

Is there any public hearing?

Thank you for coming forward, sir.

You're please limit your comments to three minutes and uh one or two.

You're on.

Thank you, Mayor, Council members.

Is this going to be my agenda?

What I want to bring up, or is this we have to stay in contract context?

What we're doing.

That'll be at the end of the night.

Okay.

Can we move that up to the front?

Because I've noticed there's some been some discrepancies on that on the past where we've made us wait through.

We've missed the Bobcat game.

I don't know.

But let's not push us public to the back at the end of the meeting.

I request that we bring that up right away off the bat.

And like we've seen with 50 other people on other demonstrations, they also are here at times on you know, 50 different homeowners off of the 40th in Shiloh area.

Boom, you guys nailed it right off the bat.

Me, South Side Task Force, South Side Triangle.

I want to bring it up too.

I'm only one mouse in a big house.

I'll be back.

Any other public comment?

Good evening.

Is this working?

Good.

So uh good evening.

My name is Jack Hansen.

I was born and raised here in Billings.

I currently live in Ward 4, where I own property, and that's where I pay my city taxes.

So first off, let me congratulate Mayor Nelson and the five new council members on your election wins.

Uh and thank you for stepping forward to serve our community.

We do appreciate that.

So my comments pertain to item one e on the consent agenda.

This is a uh approving the new collective bargaining agreement for our police officers.

And I decided it'd be best to speak at the beginning of the meeting tonight because I see that Chief St.

John is in the room, and I think it'd be helpful for him to hear these comments as well.

I'm happy to see this agreement settled.

I encourage the council to approve it this evening.

I think you will.

Approving this contract with its 9% wage increases and improvements to working conditions will help to ensure that we can recruit and retain qualified, well prepared officers going forward.

Another thing that we can do as a city to ensure continued respect for our officers, and to help secure the general public safety, is we can refuse to get entangled in the disturbing train wreck that ICE and border patrol agents are causing in cities across the country.

In the past months, we've all witnessed horrified as poorly trained, unprofessional agents under what can only be described as criminally incompetent command, engage in reckless, lawless, dangerous activity.

We do not need that in our community.

We cannot have that in our city.

When ICE or border patrol occupies city streets, no one is safe.

And the broader community loses respect for all law enforcement officers.

Don't let that happen here.

It's not really what I'm talking about.

Rather, I'd like to see this council make it perfectly clear that if and when federal agents show up in our town, trample on our civil rights, and break our laws, they will be investigated, arrested, and prosecuted.

This will help protect not only all of us residents, but our police officers as well.

I encourage each of you to consider that as you vote tonight on the new police contract.

Thank you for your time.

Any further public comment?

Mr.

Mayor and Council members, Paul Clark, Southside Task Force.

Billings Police Officers collecting bargaining agreement.

And about a 9% increase.

And let me tell you what, that's not enough.

We should do 18%, along with our firefighters and everyone else that is a public servant for this beautiful city.

Don't skim them short, you guys.

Perhaps on the collective of bargain agreement with the fire department, they are going to be full-time employees, not part-time.

I want to see 12 on, get that 40 hours in, then they can have their time off.

This idea of 20 hours of work week and collecting all the benefits from bargain agreement.

That's not bargain agreement.

That's holding us hostage.

City council and residents.

So again, 9%'s not enough people.

They need more.

Any further public comment?

Seeing none, I'll call this part of the meeting closed.

And we'll move on to item number one, consent agenda.

Do we have any separations?

Councilmember Kennedy.

Mayor, I would separate item E.

All right.

Mr.

Aspen Leiter.

Um, Mr.

Mayor, I'll separate item one I for purposes of recusal.

My firm represents that developer.

Thank you.

Anything else?

Councilmember Nice.

I'm prepared to make a motion.

Please do.

I move to approve the items that the consent agenda item is submitted with the exception of the items removed for separation, being one E and one I second.

All right, we have a uh motion to approve items uh in the consent agenda with the exception of the removed items E and I, and they've been seconded by Councilperson uh Pittman.

Is there any discussion?

Mr.

Apsman Leiter.

Yeah, thanks, Mr.

Mayor.

I just want to make a comment on on one C.

I didn't pull it for discussion or or voting or changing the contract, but it's the contract for water main replacement.

Over the last year, looking at a lot of these contracts through public works.

That there's a place for that, probably in some projects, like big transportation projects like Rim Rock or Grand or Main Street in the Heights.

But a water main replacement project in Midtown is probably not a place where we need a project-specific website.

Um we had the same thing in a contract that we did a couple months ago for sidewalks and safer house to school.

We had the same thing for a sewer contract in North Park.

Like we tend to let these things kind of float through and they they become you know value add propositions, and I'd I would bet you my paycheck, which is my free parking at the airport, by the way, um, that there's five people that go to those websites, and we spend in this contract it's 35,000 in public outreach and project websites and things like that.

We've we gotta be more diligent about what we're actually spending money on and what actually adds value, because I would argue that none of that really does, um, or very minimally.

So I just ask public works to please dial in on that a little tighter and take note of that as we're going into public works projects.

Councilman Boyette.

Um, I just want to say uh anytime we receive a donation to the city, we should recognize it in this case.

Uh Rim Rock Credit Union has donated $15,000 to the police department for their blue camp.

I just say thank you very much, and and we need to continue that effort.

Thank you.

Um might note that that's a community service project for seventh graders.

What a great place to start.

Nice job.

And thank you to um Rock Credit Union for that, Camp Blue.

All right, any other councilman Nees?

Yes, I just want to join with the council, Councilmember Aspen Liter mentioned because I agree.

If we can if we can reduce some of these costs to these uh projects, it's just gonna benefit us uh further to uh stretch our dollars uh more on other projects.

So appreciate you bringing that forward and and uh didn't want the public works thinking just council member as been lighter saying that, but I also agree with him.

Thank you.

All right, council member shaw, you had something.

All right, okay.

So it's been moved and seconded that we uh that we accept and pass the items on the consent agenda except the removed items E and I.

Uh all in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

All opposed, please say no.

All right, that passes.

That brings us to council person Kennedy's removal.

Umice officers collective bargaining agreement.

Thank you, Mayor.

And council.

I would uh I would like to make a few comments.

On the Billings Police Officers Collected Bargaining Agreement, I'm going to vote against this contract.

This is against my nature for the police, but I have several reasons why I want to reject this evening.

The police contract may be a win for the management, but that does not address the lowest pay compared to the other cities in the state.

As it was just talked about the 9%, that's 3% a year.

Will this contract help recruit more quality candidates?

No.

Will this still have us trying very hard to recruit officers with low pay in the state and a high call out over time and rates?

As Lieutenant Puckett told me, more money into the police will not solve the shortage problem.

Well, I feel if the pay was comparable to the top one or two cities, then we would not have to have as many officers resigning from the force.

Last year we had five retirements, but eight resignations of officers to go elsewhere.

Why?

Pay, overtime, morale problems.

When are we going to address these issues?

And they're not addressed in this collective bargaining unit.

A win for the administration of prolonging negotiations and keeping the cost down will also in the long run decrease the number of officers.

We have seven officers in coming, which is great, but 10 to 15 officers needing to fill just to get us up to where we need to be.

Over Christmas, we saw murder, shootings, stabbings, and many call outs.

Typical weekend.

Good thing we didn't have snow.

We were told that the 36 hour jail would solve a lot of problems.

We rushed to give three million dollars to the county.

But we drug out negotiations for the city on this police contract.

I heard that if the officers didn't like what was offered, they could go elsewhere.

I don't agree.

We spent a lot of money on training and equipment to let officers leave us after a few years.

Missoula Bozeman Helena look pretty good.

More pay, less hours, less crime.

I'm voting no because I want to bring up the bigger issue that we have in our police department.

Pay, recruitment, maybe it's time for a change.

Hiring security companies in downtown and businesses on Montana Avenue is not good.

We still have to call the Billings Police Department out when there's a confrontation and an issue.

When I hear from voters about where the mill levy, where did the mill levy go?

And that was yesterday morning that I was just uh going into my garage.

I explained we got eight police officers, the majority went to attorneys, code enforcement, administration, courts.

Then I hear the same thing over and over again.

That's not what we voted for.

I will leave this discussion for another day.

I'm a no on this contract just to say there's an issue.

So at this time, I would just like to say thank you, Billings Police, for doing your job.

Um, but I will be a no on the vote on this.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Kennedy.

I think I got a little ahead of myself by letting you talk uh before a motion was made.

I think we do need a motion.

Councilperson Boyette.

Thank you, Mayor.

I move that we approve item number E, Billings Police Officers Collective Bargain Agreement.

We uh let me call for a second.

So is there a second?

Second.

Thank you, Councilman Nicholson.

Um after that, any discussion on item one ear.

I think Tony's got his hand up online.

Councilmember O'Donnell, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there.

How are you doing?

Thank you.

We're all getting uh we're all new and getting used to this.

I'm definitely a rookie.

This uh uh occasion to uh uh congratulate uh uh commission member uh uh uh bill on on this because it is a vital importance, primary importance of the any city, the uh protection of its uh residents.

Uh so police and fire uh deserve to have the fully funded uh to where they can do their job uh accurately.

Uh I was not a part of the negotiations, obviously, for this contract.

I am uh I appreciate uh uh uh member Kennedy uh uh uh pointing out the deficiencies on this.

Uh unfortunately, as I understand it, we are financially constrained, uh partially uh because of uh just uh limits, but uh also because of the uh uh actions of the state legislature in limiting the amount of money that the buildings has to offer uh uh to to spend as I understand it.

Uh this is all new to me, but I will continue to support the uh Billings Police Department and Fire Department to the very best of my ability uh during this period of time.

So thank you, uh member uh Kennedy for bringing in this uh point to our attention.

Council person shaw.

Uh thank you.

Um just to add a little context for people.

Um I will I I will support this.

Um I I think people think council members are maybe involved in this negotiation.

We are not.

This is our HR department and administration that negotiates with the union.

So I trust that both entities came together, reached an agreement finally.

I took longer than I think we'd all hoped, but that was not for lack of diligent working on this.

So thank you to administration for seeing this through.

I'm pleased we have something that the union has accepted that we can move forward with so that we can close the door on this and get everybody happily back to work fingers crossed.

I'm gonna comment on this too.

I'm gonna vote for it.

Um I'm really happy that we have a contract and that we're moving forward.

I'm very excited about the future and working with our Billings Police Department.

And I know that as we go forward over the next three years of this contract, we will be working diligently as a council to bring in new sources of revenue so that we can solve some of these financial problems.

So having said that, um, I'll call for a vote now.

All in favor of uh see the motion is to approve the uh the items in the consent agenda specifically this time the contract.

Um all in favor say aye.

Aye, aye.

Those opposed?

No.

Okay, motion passes.

Item one I has been removed, so council member Aspenlighter can recuse himself.

Do we have a motion to approve this?

Mayor, I make a motion, motion to approve item one I.

And a second.

Second for Mr.

Kennedy.

He was the fastest from the on the draw.

Any any uh discussion regarding this item?

And I'll call for a vote.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposition?

Okay, that passes.

Please note that Mr.

Aspenlighter has uh recused himself as required.

That moves us to our regular agenda.

Um item two on the uh the agenda.

Uh Tony, would you please read that for us?

Item number two, public hearing and amendment with Lockwood Water and Sewer.

Staff recommends approval.

I guess we have a public staff pre not a public but a staff presentation, sir.

That's correct.

Yes.

Give me one moment here to share my screen.

Well, Lewis, well we got it.

I got thank you.

All right, so start with introductions and then you're on.

Yes, I'm Lewis Engels.

I'm the water quality superintendent.

I'm back with you tonight to uh discuss the Lockwood water and sewer uh district proposed amendment.

Just a quick review of what we discussed last week.

Can everybody hear me okay?

In 2008, we entered into an agreement with Lockwood to treat uh their wastewater.

That was for treatment only.

Um there are limits around the amount of wastewater that they can give us and the concentrations of contaminants that they can give us.

Uh also in that agreement to find a specific service area uh and changes to that service area require uh city council or city approval, and that's why we're here before you tonight.

In 2021, that agreement was amended uh to include the Lockwood Targeted Economic Development District, also known as the TED.

And then I'm here with uh before you tonight uh to discuss a proposed amendment two.

Uh there is an eight and a half acre parcel that uh exists actually between the original uh 2008 service area and then the 2021 amended service area.

Uh the proposed uh property is wanting to build a commercial truck wash uh and come into the Lockwood Water and Sewer District.

Outlined in blue here, just to give you some context for uh the service area that we're talking about was the original Lockwood Water and Sewer District service area in 2008.

The area in orange was the area that was amended in amendment one, and you can probably tell there's a small triangular uh parcel there, and that's the uh subject property of amendment two uh that is seeking to come into the Lockwood Water and Sewer District.

Here's a little closer look at that property.

Uh just uh passed the I-90 Johnson Lane Interchange there.

Uh currently uh there's nothing on it.

Again, they're uh intending to bring in a commercial truck wash.

Uh following up from uh the work session last week, uh we were directed to uh get an application for the enlargement of the Lockwood Water and Sewer District, which we did uh and was provided by uh Lockwood.

Um we also proposed a waiver of right to protest annexation uh that was also directed by council.

Um additionally, we did some legal review of city code and Montana Code annotated.

Uh where things are a little bit gray as far as our code is the definition of the service area.

So to be clear, and maybe I didn't describe this as well as I should have last week, is that uh we do not uh control the Lockwood uh service area.

Um they have their own service area.

We again we do have an agreement to treat their wastewater, uh, but is a completely separate service area from uh from ours.

Um I'll go ahead and just illustrate that point with this this map here.

Uh this is showing a portion of our sewer service area.

Uh the area there in orange is our water reclamation facility where all the wastewater heads to be treated.

Uh that is a separate sewer service area than uh what's shown in green there, which is the Lockwood uh water and sewer district service area.

Uh again to point out that looking at uh Montana Law, uh the district is a separate entity from ourselves, uh meaning we don't own the pipes or the lift stations within the Lockwood Water and Sewer District.

Uh those are you know managed, constructed, operated all by by Lockwood.

Uh the city just provides treatment.

Uh there's a single point of discharge uh from the Lockwood Water and Sewer District to our uh to our treatment facility, and it's viewed as a single wholesale customer uh by the city.

Uh alternatives tonight, as you probably saw in the memo.

Um option, well, let me let me talk about uh city code a little bit.

Uh section 26203 and 204 require an attempt at annexation.

Um those codes and honestly in an enlargement, uh a request for an enlargement of the service area, those codes would need to be uh waived by you after a public hearing tonight.

Should you want to take this property on also approving amendment number two as included in the packet?

The difference between alternative one and alternative two here is the requirement to uh for the waiver of right to protest annexation.

So uh we included in the packet that that waiver or that would be signed by the property owner uh for that uh waiver of right to protest annexation.

Or thirdly, uh you can choose to not approve the amendment to or the waiver and the property will not be included uh in the Lockwood water and sewer district service area.

Provided a recommended motion here that includes the waiver of right to protest annexation uh as directed by uh council last week.

Um go ahead and open it up for questions.

Councilmember Kennedy.

Mr.

Mayor, just for the record, I'll be recusing myself from from this regular business item.

My firm represents Blue Beacon, so I'll I'll recuse myself from discussion and vote.

Thank you, sir.

Could you go back to the map?

The one that shows this parcel farther back.

Okay.

Um, when you show the original Lockwood water and sewer district service area, I mean, we spent a lot of time in 2008 on this and worked with the city.

I was a county commissioner at that time and we worked on this.

The TED district up there, amendment one, um, encompasses between the original Lockwood water and sewer district area from 208 to amendment um that was taken in.

Can you tell me why amendment two, the proposed amendment two, was not taken in at that time for uh um the uh uh sewer.

Councilmember Kennedy, mayor and council.

I don't know for sure the the reasons behind that.

I'm not certain if it was uh an omission uh that was that was missed in discussions with the Lockwood Water and Sewer District.

We weren't sure if that was an omission or if there was some potentially a previous property owner who did not want to be included, but for whatever reason that was brought before us, we believe that again in discussions with Lockwood that this could be a big thing that I have a problem with this because of that property owner not wanting to be in the TED now they've sold the property and it leaves the poor guy that's going to build this car wash and everything in the lurch.

And I don't think that's right.

So, you know, I will support it tonight, but I have a real tough time with uh a landowner holding out like that, and then knowing in the future they're gonna come back and ask because uh that leaves a lot of people that do um annex and get certain city services looking at something like this and say, well, if I hold out and I don't have to pay anything, um I will, and then eventually when I sell it, this poor guy that's trying to build something is uh is not gonna get those services.

So I that's what leaves a real bad taste in my mouth.

We will go forward with this tonight because we have in the past with amendment one and 2021, but I have some concern over these people in these pockets that say no in the uh earlier years.

Thank you.

Any other questions for Lewis?

Councilman Nees.

Thank you.

Oh, Lewis, uh, thank you for showing the information about the service areas.

I think that's helpful.

Um let me ask you a question when you know, years down the road when this property would say would be annexed into the city.

At that time, they may be a city resident part of the city, but they would be serviced by still continue to be serviced by Lockwood Sewer, the city would not have to service that property for a sewer or water or anything like that at the time.

Is that do I understand that correctly?

Councilmember Nees, that's correct.

Okay, thank you very much.

And then uh in this maybe out of your um out of your knowledge, but I'm gonna ask it anyway, because the TED was a break area we wanted to see in the county to produce additional taxes in that.

That's a whole little process for that we want to see on that.

Do you know that once this is um added to the uh Lockwood Seward area that they would come back then and maybe uh add it to the TED?

And would we have to see an amendment to that TED agreement or would that auto and Chris you may know this, but or we could could they just automatically include this now in the TED through their TED process and I have to come back to the city?

Uh council councilmember niece, mayor and council.

It is a minor saying that if the t TED boundary as a tax increment finance district, if that boundary is amended, of which there is a process to amend it in statute.

I don't think the city would be involved in that process at all because it's wholly in the county.

Um, but I believe it could be the district, can its boundary can change through a public process laid out in statute.

Okay.

Well I'd hope they would, and that's not out of our area, but I just wanted to check to see if you knew about that.

Because that's the whole idea is this could be a maybe catalyst to that whole TED area.

So if they're TED people are listening, please consider that.

Thank you.

Councilmember Nees.

Um you're not Nice.

You're not um I have a legal question, um, which is we can't forcibly annex anything that's zoned industrial or agricultural.

Does this waiver just override all of that?

So it doesn't matter how it's zoned, city wanted to annex it in the future.

Is that accurate?

Uh council member Shah, Mayor and Council.

Um that's correct.

If there's a legal process to annex, they would not be able to protest that annexation process.

Anything further?

Mr.

Mayor, CM Nicholson.

And then Councilmember Tony O'Donnell.

Mr.

Nicholson first.

So I'd like to uh remember this is working.

Uh that uh the uh people of Billings are uh essentially our shareholders where the board of directors.

Um and I'd like to remind us everybody that any business that goes on this piece of property would uh probably be competing with businesses within the city uh limits and uh business who are contributing to all the things that our city does.

I think we need to remember that uh that makes me want to oppose this.

CM O'Donnell.

Thank you.

Um just a question.

If we if this uh uh resolution does not pass tonight, uh the uh residents of that area, future residents, including our wash, uh who do they get water and sewer service from Mayor and Council, Councilmember O'Donnell believe their choices would exclusively be well and septic, and I don't know legally or technically, but uh maybe that's not the right answer, but so others are shaking their head.

Lewis, do you have other options that they have other than Blockwood water and sewer and well or a septic?

I don't believe so.

I don't believe so.

I you'd have to know more about the groundwater in the area to to say whether that would work, but my guess is it probably wouldn't for a car wash.

It would seem to be uh uh pretty impractical for uh truck wash to be reliable on uh well uh water.

So uh I it would seem to me that if this is not approved that uh that truck wash does not get uh developed in that area.

Thank you.

I have a question, Lewis.

Um so we have three alternatives uh grant a waiver without an amendment, grant a waiver with an amendment, or not approve the waiver or the amendment.

So does staff have an opinion here?

Uh Ms.

Mayor and Council members, the recommendation for staff is to include a waiver of right to protest annexation.

And the primary reason for that is is precedent.

Uh the the policy of the city of Billings has been to require that that waiver.

Uh looking at the map, it may seem somewhat impractical, but uh it's tough to say uh in the future.

Could things change?

Could water to the TED uh change things?

Uh so it's basically the conservative approach for the city to require the waiver.

Uh and that was the recommendation that we provided.

All right, thank you.

Um anything else for Lewis?

Thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

That brings us to the public hearing portion for this agenda item only.

Um you will have uh three minutes to speak.

Please come forward and uh state your name and where you live and uh take your three minutes.

Good evening, Mayor and good evening, Mayor and City Council.

Uh my name is Jeff Kettlson, and I live on the west side of Billings.

And uh this this issue keeps coming up in front of the front of this esteemed board here.

And I would like to um echo exactly what Congress or um council member Mark Nicholson said was that when we do these types of things, we offer our city services to properties that are outside of our city.

We're creating competition for businesses inside of our city, and we don't get any benefit of that at all.

But we're we're giving uh it's it's like a free gift to a to a business that we shouldn't be doing.

Um you're spending you know our hard earned tax money for things that that we don't get a benefit out of.

I I really don't understand.

You know what we don't get property tax from this property, it's in the county.

This is not our city's problem.

That's their problem.

If if I this thing of the the waiver of annexation, I I think is preposterous there.

I don't think that even should be.

But you know, I think that if we give city services to a property, that property should be in the city so we can collect the tax dollars and protect the citizens, the taxpayers of our city.

That's it.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Looks like I may have gotten ahead of myself once again.

Is there anyone from Lockwood here that would like to speak?

My apologies for stepping out of order, sir.

Uh my name is Mike Aristia.

I'm the manager for Lockwood Water and Sewer District.

Uh Mayor, Council members, I appreciate the opportunity to come before you this afternoon, and I appreciate that you have considered this.

Um there are a couple points uh I would like to bring up and maybe be able to answer some of the questions that the council had when we were going through this.

Can you hear me all right?

Okay.

Um, so yeah, the district has an existing wastewater agreement with the city of Billings.

Um associated with that original agreement was a boundary that was set.

Um in addition to that boundary, there is capacity limits that you know I'm gonna this won't happen, but if the boundary of the district were to expand by twice, we would still be limited to that capacity we have available in the treatment plant.

Lockwood Water and Sewer District currently pays not only for the treatment of our wastewater, but we pay for that reserved capacity in the treatment plant that we aren't currently using.

Um so as part of this request tonight, we're not asking to increase what capacity we already have per the original agreement.

We're just asking to allow a property that I can't give you a reason why it wasn't included in the original boundary or within the amendment.

Um, but to allow us to service this property within the existing parameters of our agreement.

Um the agreement does allow for the expansion and specifically allows for the expansion of the boundary.

And what it says is just with the approval of the city.

Um we've been a good partner with the city.

Um I think we work well with the city, um, have open communication and dialogue, and we look to continue that process here in the future.

Um as you saw in the um the diagram up there, um, this is an island.

Um I wasn't part of the original boundary.

I was that was before my time when that was established.

And then the what they called the TED study area boundary was established prior to my time.

I did speak with the previous manager, and he couldn't tell me or he couldn't recall a specific instance why this property um wasn't included in either boundary.

Um honestly, I think it was probably just an oversight, but um not being here and having first hand knowledge of that, I don't know.

Um Lockwood Water and Sewer District will be providing should the city council approve this amendment, we will be providing both water and sewer to this facility.

Um as you spoke of the city code section 26201 is specific to the city's um water and sewer service area.

This agreement or this what's before you tonight wouldn't expand, and we're not asking to expand the city's sewer service water sewer service area.

We're just asking in in reality, we're not really expanding our external boundary either.

It's just to take this one property that's within an island within our boundary and letting us provide service to it.

I do think that this is a different situation than just a you know a residential or a single property requesting city services and being brought into that and requiring that uh waiver or that annexation or the waiver of right to annexation.

Um so at this time, you know, what we're asking for is really a zero effect wastewater-wise to the city of Billings.

I do understand that there may be policy um implications with this.

Um, and I, you know, um that is a decision for this board to make.

So once again, I um we are requesting to expand the boundary.

Option one without the waiver for this property, just because of the location of it.

Um, it's not directly adjacent to a city boundary, um, and it will be provided services by specifically by Lockwood Water and Sewer District, um, minus the agreement that we have to treat that wastewater.

Um, so that's what I have, and I'd be more than happy to answer any specific questions you may have.

Thank you, Michael.

Any questions for the manager?

Sam Kennedy.

When we um had the first agreement, you are paying um more than it would cost a billings resident for sewer service, correct?

I believe so with you know, with our treatment fees and things.

I can't say that because I'm not sure.

I don't know what the what the current city of Billings fees are.

I do know that we are part of that rate study that happens every two years.

Uh Lockwood is a wholesale customer's rates get looked at.

Um so we do have a two components of our rates.

We have the treatment of the wastewater per gallon that we send to the city of Billings.

But like I mentioned before, we pay a reserve capacity or a capacity fee for that guaranteed capacity in the agreement, um, which you know currently is I want to say around 40,000 a month.

So it's not like we're getting a free service and we're asking the city to give us something for free.

You know, we're just asking to be able to use a portion of what we are currently paying for.

Thank you.

Councilmember Kennedy, mayor and council.

I'm gonna let Lewis because he can answer it specifically.

Yes, there is a surcharge.

Yes, there are premiums.

The exclusion is they're not paying for pipes, they own their own pipes.

So there is some complexity to it.

But Mr.

Okay, Mr.

Angles can explain precisely what the surcharge is.

Councilmember Kennedy, mayor and counsel, that's that's correct.

So there uh there's different surcharges.

Uh the original agreement had a six percent surcharge on top of the they pay for the facilities that they use.

So they don't pay for every single pipe in our system.

They pay for only the connection point and the facilities at the at the wastewater treatment plant, and that's how their rates are set.

You'd probably want to talk to Jennifer if there was a little more specifics on that, but generally that's how it works.

Uh, but there is a six percent surcharge on top of that for the original service area for the TED area, it's an 18% uh surcharge because at this time we don't know what industry industry would come in that might require uh you know more cost to treat that wastewater.

And Lewis, do you um water and sewer also pay for the capacity?

Uh council member Kennedy, mayor and counselor, or mayor and counsel, yes, that's correct.

The capacity.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

Anything else for manager Mike.

Thank you, sir.

All right, thank you for your consideration.

All right, we at this time we'll resume public.

Oh, hello.

Good evening, mayor and council.

My name is Craig Dalton.

I am with performance engineering.

I'm the agent for the property owner.

And I just wanted to um and kind of uh enforce the things that Mike just said is as far as we're looking primarily for a clarification on the boundary.

Um, you know, this was uh this is an island parcel as Lewis showed in the middle of this multi-square mile district.

Uh it appears from what I can tell is uh is as an oversight in this manner.

Um we would request that the uh the amendment be made without the waiver of right to protest.

This is different than a West End property.

Uh this isn't this is the property uh coming to Lockwood Water and Sewer District asking for services.

It's not us coming directly to the city of Billings asking for service expansions, is what is what we traditionally do on West End properties.

Um it adds another layer of complexity and undue burden onto the property um when uh it's in all likelihood not going to be annexed into the city.

Uh if it if it were to happen, it would probably be at the time of the city of Billings taking over the Lockwood Water and Sewer District in its entirety.

So we'd request the council consider the amendment uh without the waiver right to protest.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone have any questions?

All right.

Anyone else for the developer for Lockwood or thank you?

Mr.

Boos, are you there?

Yes.

Good evening.

Uh my name's Don Boos.

I'm uh director of real estate for Blue Beacon.

Uh we're um uh we're we our our uh plan would use a little more than half the parcel that was shown tonight, and we will have a leasehold interest in the property.

Uh we'll build the building and operate it ourselves, but the uh right to annexation would be the right of the current landowner who would continue to own the land um under a long-term land lease with us that uh could extend out to 50 years.

Um Blue Beacon is the world's largest truck wash company.

We wash uh trucks, uh motorhomes, RVs, anything essentially that's too large to go through a tunnel car wash.

We currently operate uh 115 locations in 39 states.

This would be our first uh location in Montana, which we're very excited about.

Um I could tell you it's a first class operation.

Uh, we spend several million dollars uh on the development.

We would hire approximately 60 uh individuals.

Our payroll would be over 2 million dollars.

Uh we're an all cash developer, so uh we operate with no debt.

Uh we pay our bills, we pay our people, we hire well, we keep our properties clean.

Um, I also we always like to explain that uh we don't have any truck parking on premises.

Uh if you're on our property, you're in line waiting to be washed, you're in the tunnel getting washed, or you're leaving the property after being washed.

Um other component that a lot of people don't think about with large vehicle washing, and a lot of this became very evident during COVID.

Uh, we not only wash the exterior vehicles, but there's a growing need to wash the inside of trailers, especially with anything related to produce, medical supplies, uh, any kind of uh food deliveries.

Um most of those vendors now are requiring uh clean trailers for every load.

We're the only national company that can sort of buy a clean trailer, so it's been a very large growing part of our business.

Uh and a lot of communities have looked upon that uh quite favorably.

But once again, we are uh uh a very solid uh economic impact to the area.

I'm sure that some of our employees would be living in the city limits uh uh, but uh the property is in the county, and uh once again the right to to waive annexation realizes with the underlying landowner, uh, but we would be the business owner, buildings owner and the operator, and we look forward to being part of your business community.

Thank you, Mr.

Boos.

Uh CM Boyette.

Thank you.

Uh Don, uh, you were said that you clean out the inside of trucks.

Do you do animal trucks as well as bull haulers?

No, we no, we do not.

We do not do uh uh animal vehicles, nor do we wash out the inside of uh uh anything that would carry any kind of chemicals.

We don't know what those are, so uh we have strict rules as to what we will and what wash, take or take our trucks, and we don't wash the inside.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Boos.

At this time, anybody else for the developer or for Lockwood?

So I'll reopen the public hearing and uh come on forward.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor and Council members, Paul Clark, Southside Transport, South Side Task Force.

I live on the South Side.

Uh Blue Beacon, streaking at the beacon, trailer washout, potatoes, sugar, anything else that's refrigerated.

It's nasty stuff.

There's usually a swamp behind the streak and at the beacon, and it's very unhealthy for us.

Again, people, who am I?

I am gonna get you on pollution.

You're gonna be held accountable for all the pollution that goes in that Yellowstone River.

Mark it.

Clean it.

You guys, the tonnage, the amount of water it's going to take to wash these 18 wheelers.

Whatever agreement you got with Lockwood, you might want to watch that one.

The treatment, the wastewater, our beautiful Yellowstone River streaking at the beacon within I don't know, a quarter of a mile.

That's some nasty stuff.

It better be heading for the treatment before it gets in that river.

It's on you.

Any other public comment?

All right.

Uh public comment section is closed.

We'll move to uh I guess call for a motion.

Councilmember Boyette.

Um I'll try to phrase it correctly.

Having conducted a public hearing considered written and spoken public testimony, a move to approve the amendment with the Lockwood water and sewer as recommended by staff, which is item number two, which would include the letter of uh and right to refuse station.

Is that unless you want to bring it back up, Louis?

That's what I'm gonna do.

I'll second that.

Okay.

So Lewis here, I believe the memo should be on the screen there for you.

Okay, so I'll just re-re reiterate then having conducted a public hearing, considered written and spoken public testimony.

I move to waive the requirement of uh BMCC sections 26-203 and 26204 without annexation and require a waiver of the right of protest annexion for the property and approve the amendment with the Lockwood Water and Sewer District as recommended by staff.

Okay, now that we have a motion, I'll call for a second.

Second.

Councilmember Nees, thank you.

All right, Councilmember Boyet would like to speak to your motion.

Um we may or may not annex this in a hundred years, but the I mean, now is the only chance we have to do anything.

We can't do it 10 years from now or 20 years from now.

Um, I under I was totally against this to start with, but after reviewing it, what we're doing is actually extending the Lockwood Water District.

We're not we're not approving this property.

We're just extending what they have the ability to do.

Um and I understand what uh everyone has said about they're not paying taxes.

Uh I think a lot of those people will live in bellings, but um uh that's I just think we need to move ahead with this.

Councilmember Nees.

Thank you.

Councilmember Lindley, then council member Shaw.

Thank you, Mayor.

I I uh also uh this would have without the waiver of right to protest annexation, I would not support this.

And when when I'm looking at property within the city, it is something that we have to consider with our citizens.

Yes, they this is outside of our city, but our city is gonna grow someday.

I won't be around when it gets to this this far.

But I think we need to continue to look to the future for the our future generation of what they need to do.

And at this time, because this is gonna be industrial, that would prevent us from ever having to annex that this into the into the property in the future.

So this is the time to set that up to say yes, if we get out there that far and it makes sense, then we can annex it in and uh and and be part of the city.

So I I think this is a this is something that we should have done again with the Ted.

I I fought that lot and lost that one, but I'm glad to see us doing this one.

So I would appreciate uh support in this.

Uh so thank you.

Thank you.

CM Lindley.

Thanks, Mayor.

Yeah, I'm in agreement with um council member Nice on this.

I think we've the new members of the council, including myself have learned a lot in the last uh couple of months.

And one thing that I've learned that was kind of alarming to me is just how often the city is extending services without the ability to even potentially annex a property.

Um, it's really taking it out of our hands.

And you know, look, I think for the the rest of the taxpayers in billings, that's just not fair.

Um, and so I certainly support this with the waiver of right to annexation.

Thank you.

CM Shaw.

I just wanted to address there's been a few uh number of public comments about why not just annex this right now to solve the problem.

And I just wanted to provide a little context of that, then puts the city on the hook for providing police, fire, park service, road maintenance, all the way out there.

So when the properties are not contiguous with the city limits, it puts a real burden on other city services.

So that's the argument for why not to annex right now, but I certainly support the motion with the waiver because I think that's the that's the right path.

All right, any other discussion.

Boy, uh council member O'Donnell.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Uh I'm not familiar with uh all of the uh processes and their procedures, uh, but uh I I guess I would be concerned about what the uh uh speaker from the south side uh brought up about the uh possible um uh result of cleaning out uh uh trailers with a lot of a lot of junk in them.

Uh I I guess I will rely upon uh the representative from Blue Bleak and Beacon who said that uh the places will be kept clean.

So I I don't know if we can ask him for comment on that, but I think it's a very good point.

Thank you.

Well, uh what I could tell you in the 39 states where we operate, uh first off, we uh we have a complete environmental department that continues to grow uh over the years.

Uh but we're in complete compliance with state regulations, local regulations, EPA.

We've even received national recognition for our cleanliness and uh the environmental awards.

Um, and uh that includes states of California, Arizona, uh, New Mexico, uh, Florida, where there's large environmental concerns.

So um we're uh we we do maintain uh those and uh all of our uh uh washwater is contained within our systems uh and directed towards uh sanitary sewer.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, any other any other discussion or all right?

Let me see if I can wrap this up here.

Um we have a motion on the table to uh waive the requirements of BMC C sections 26203 and 26204 without annexation, but to require a waiver of the right to protest annexation from the property owner and to approve an amendment uh with Lockwood Water and Sewer District, uh just like the staff recommended.

So all those in favor of this motion, please indicate by saying aye.

I all those opposed.

All right, that motion passes.

One nay.

Who said nay?

Dr.

Nicholson said nay, and uh CMS Van Leiter recused himself nomination and election of deputy mayor pro tem staff recommends that council nominate and elect a deputy mayor pro tem.

So the way this happens is we will nominate and then vote.

Am I correct?

We will nominate and then vote.

If that person does not get a majority, we will move on to a second nomination and a vote.

I'm doing it correctly.

Okay, so there we go.

So just a point on the process.

Um point in the past, we we did it of put all the nominations on the floor, and then we just went down the row and voted for for people, and that way we didn't have to vote against someone, which I think is just kind of a nicer way to do it.

But that's just another option.

Well, I think that's uh the I'm gonna refer to Gina.

I think that's the proper way under Robert's rules of order is to take all the nominations, then vote on them in the order they were taken.

Is that correct?

That's correct, Mayor.

Okay, so we will do that, and I see a gentleman with his hand up.

So see him Kennedy.

Thank you, Mayor.

I would like to nominate uh councilman Roy Nees for the deputy mayor pro tem.

All right, looking around.

Councilman Pittman, I think you were seconded.

Oh no, we're not there for we don't need seconds on this.

Yeah, seconds aren't necessary in this process.

Take a nominations at this point.

So nominations.

Uh yes, I'd like to nominate Kendra Shaw.

Okay.

Any other nominations.

All right.

So here's what we'll do.

Um, we will vote first on the first nomination, which is CM Nice.

Um, if CM Nice gets a majority of the vote, then he gets the job.

And if not, we'll move on to CM Shaw.

So all those in favor of voting for CM Nees for Mayor Pro Tem, please raise your hands.

Two, three, four, five.

We have five.

And Tony, we have six.

So we have, am I right?

A majority.

Six is a majority and eleven.

Congratulations, Mayor Potem.

Item on the agenda number four, council appointments to community boards and/or committees and council.

So please forgive me if I mix this up a little bit too, but it appears that our process in the past for um appointment to the three uh council boards, uh local governing authority boards, legislative, budget, and council ops.

Um mayor assignment.

And right now um you've all gotten uh uh you've all gotten a memo with the assignments on there.

So on legislative, we have Shaw, Pittman, Kennedy, O'Donnell, and Lindley for budget.

We have Nicholson, Nice, Kennedy, Aspen Leiter, and Boyette.

And then on council ops, uh that's by way of uh city code.

So we have Nelson Boyette and Mayor Protenneese.

Um so I I guess I'm looking for a little bit of consensus in this, unless we want to.

I'd rather not, but if we want to horse trade a little bit, um okay, we're good there.

Next, um, as I understand it for council member committees for 2026.

We go down and um make sure that we're good with the assignments.

So the first one is Big Sky Economic Development Board.

This is a two-year term.

Excuse me, I'm sorry, two-year term to meet the second Thursday of the month in the zoot training room, um, in the Big Sky Economic Development Authority Boardroom, and we have Councilmember Pittman, community development board, uh council member Kennedy, policy coordinating committee, Mayor Nelson on the Beartooth R C and D, Councilmember Mark Nicholson on Bright and Beautiful.

We have Councilmember Tony O'Donnell on the downtown billings partnership, council member Amy Ageary on the Babcock Theater Board, Councilmember Andrew Lindley, the local governing authority will be uh Mayor Nelson and Deputy Mayor Boyet.

Uh on the EBERD advisory committee, we have Kendra Shaw on the downtown urban renewal uh advisory committee, council member Aguirre on Sabura, Councilmember Shaw, and then on the alternatives board, council member Tony O'Donnell.

Um any comment to those, Councilmember Boyette.

I I was reminded today by the county commissioners that there is an open there's people have been going to the CJCC, which is the committee set up to make sure that the city, county, the jail, and the um the system for our judicial system works properly, and I've been on that for a long time.

So I just thought I would continue with that because of the new people, but you need to be the history is a long, long time history about getting the getting everybody to work and play well together.

I just said I'd stay on that.

Well, thank you for your service.

Do we need more than one?

Yeah, anybody that wants to.

Yeah, I was gonna ask how many were how many council members were on there?

Last one.

Well, I think I was on there, and um Jennifer was on there, so CJCC.

Right.

Mayor, if I may.

Yes, please.

Um, I can circulate the bylaws, but the the bylaws set forth the bylaws of the CJCC set forth the the membership.

There are 15 voting members and they're all outlined.

Um I actually don't see uh a city council member as a voting member, but I don't think that there that the CJCC would have any issue.

I mean, certainly they're public meetings, so um I I don't see how there would be an issue with council members council members as many as would like to attend those meetings can attend those meetings.

So uh the city's have to be an appointment.

City's not board.

It's not an appointment then right.

So how about I I suggest then council member boyet continue to go.

Okay.

So um yes.

Uh one just talking with my ward partner here.

He would really like to serve on the e-bird advisory committee, which I don't mind at all if he would like to do that.

Um since I'll be doing the the S bird one.

Uh Mr.

Mayor, I'd like to relieve uh council member Shaw of some of that work.

So you'd rather you'd like to take over on eBird's acceptable to you, Mayor.

It is to me.

All right.

I don't know that we need to vote on this, do we?

I don't think so.

I think Mayor, if I may interrupt again, I apologize.

The I I was looking at the ex officio ex officio section of the bylaws.

There is actually one council member that should be selected by counsel for the CJCC um committee.

So I want to correct myself there.

So if uh councilmember boy it was absolutely correct, um if you all would like to have that discussion or um simply go with councilmember Boyette as he um volunteered.

All right.

My apologies.

Thank you.

So uh uh my question to you, Gina.

Um I'm under the understanding that this is these are mayoral appointments.

Does the council need to have a formal vote to approve these?

There should be um the city code, as I recall, uh indicates the appointment made by the mayor with the consent of council.

So I think as long as it's very clear that it's unanimous consent, if not if you need to take a vote to make that clear, that would be appropriate as well.

Okay, so Mr.

Kennedy.

I would move that uh we approve of the uh council um committee appointments um by the mayor this evening.

So uh uh I'll call for a second.

Second, I'll second it.

All right.

Uh any discussion to the motion.

So we have a motion by council member Kennedy to approve and uh and accept the uh council member committee's assignments for this year and next.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

All those opposed, please say no.

All right, thank you.

Well, we'll move on to public comment and on non-agenda items.

Again, I would say speaker sign-in is required.

Uh, you will be limited to three minutes for your presentation.

Um, please come up to the podium if you're so inclined.

Mr.

Mayor, but just clarification on the quorum.

We we don't do applause or hooting and hollering on comments.

This is comments and then it's a great point.

Thank you, Councilmember Esmin Leiter.

Mayor and Council, my name is Jonathan Angel.

I am a mental health counselor here in Billings, and uh I first of all would like to say that I love seeing Mark Mixon, Dr.

Nixon behind the desk.

Um, I'm pleased to have worked with him in the past at the mental health center.

I'm here tonight to discuss um my frustration with Billings Police Department is all still here.

Unfortunate, I wish he was gonna be present to hear this.

Um just over two years ago, some of you may have at least be vaguely familiar with my name because I sort of went public with some frustrations in recent weeks.

Two years ago, a woman came to me and reported a sexual assault.

I as mandated by my the law, like my uh ethics, ethical obligations.

It was reported to the police department briefly.

Um over the course of the next two years, two more women came forward accusing the same clinician of sexually assaulting them.

I repeatedly tried to work with Billings Police Department and was mostly they were mostly unresponsive.

I eventually um I apologize to those of you who were here.

I did send something out to the city council.

I didn't realize that it posted automatically to the website.

I was appreciated appreciative of the fact that somebody took that down within a number of hours, but it included no confidential information, but plenty of information that is um sensitive.

I'm here to speak to you tonight and ask that you do something.

I don't know what.

We have significant problems.

At this point, the state is a part of my duties.

I also reported these sexual assaults by a clinician in town.

And the state has found that gentleman guilty.

And as I understand, he will be stripped of his license.

He didn't attempt to renew it this year.

At any rate, I've tried to follow up with the Billings Police Department to make sure that the criminal case is pursued the first time that I lodged a complaint.

That case was dismissed.

I'm sorry, the case, the appropriate language is the investigation was closed on the very same day that the witness gave a 30-minute interview with a police detective.

I'm concerned.

See, my time is running out.

I'm deeply concerned that there are significant systemic problems both within the Billings Police Department and within the state.

Um it took them two years to strip this man of his license, and meanwhile, other women were raped as a consequence of their failure to conclude a proper investigation.

I'm trying to figure out what's going on with this.

And as the employer of the Billings Police Chief, I'm now asking you to please do something to find out what is going on with this investigation and make sure that this man is held accountable for being a serial rapist.

I'm going to linger after the meeting this evening.

I would be happy to speak about this in more detail.

This all overlaps with what's been going on at the Montana Rescue.

Thank you.

Any other public comment?

Mr.

Mayor, Council members, Paul Clark, Southside Task Force, member of the Southside, not the Southside Taskwork.

Um, listen, I went down to the demonstration to get my abuse, but you gotta remember you all can get what you need.

Okay, Rolling Stones 1964.

As I went to that protest, I wasn't either for or against it.

I merely wanted to participate and see what I was what was this all about on the corner of Sixth Avenue North and North 27th Street.

And there's a lot of involvement for one side, and not so much on the other side.

I seen a lot of angry people that uh hate ice, hate Trump.

I didn't see anything else.

And I was kind of shocked, but I mean, if we're gonna hold a demonstration and get our abuse, we should all be there.

Now I am grateful that they were not out on the tr on the street on North 27, which is Highway 3 or 6th Avenue.

They were pretty conformed to being in one spot.

So for that, I'm grateful.

With that being said, next Saturday, I have an agenda.

Okay, number one, public utilities.

Three percent of these people have gotten bills that were way out, $2,000 bills or so.

I hope that them people came in and settled their disparity on the most of it.

We pay about $50 to $60 a month in my neighborhood, South Side.

Uh, number two, the Sixth Street underpass and the cleaning.

Now, was this supposed to be mandated or purely recommended?

Because boy, let me tell you what.

Underneath that underpass right now, I don't want to walk under there, let alone drive underneath there and smell the roses.

South side lights.

I've gone to Northwest Energy and I've asked Northwest Energy, who's in charge of the light system.

We have lights down there on the south side.

That's blacked out.

Let me tell you what, folks.

I don't care what side of town you live on.

Come on down the south side once and tell me you're safe.

I walk that street, but I know my amendments.

Pollution.

And I got 40 seconds.

I'm doing good.

Pollution, Cenex, Exxon, Conico, Sugar Factory, and the streak and beacon, which I always call that for 40 years, it's a truck wash.

Nasty stuff.

Okay, this all goes to the river.

I did drive by the sugar factory, and I've noticed that they are still going to build berms around their property.

So when we do get a lot of water and snow melt, that overflow, that leech pond, that contaminated water has a chance to get at least cleaned, but it doesn't.

And boom it.

Okay.

We're gonna build a water treatment that's close to the Cenex Refinery.

That's only three miles from that Cinex refinery.

They just got fined $60,000.

Where's that money?

You guys are missing an opportunity.

We should be fining these guys thousands of dollars of play for other ideas.

And with that, God bless you all and welcome to City Council.

Thank you.

Any other public comment?

Come on forward.

Hello.

My name is Pat or Patricia Harn.

And uh I wanted to say just kindly uh that I can't really we can't really hear you in the back when you're discussing things.

If you could all turn up your volume a little during the meetings, just a little bit.

Um anyway, uh I want to talk about data centers.

There's gonna be a presentation at Rocky Mountain College uh this Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m.

And uh I'm pretty much sure it's gonna be against data centers, and there's a good case for being against data centers.

I don't know if you've been approached about this uh building the data center in the county yet.

And do you have control over any county issues?

Okay, well, I think this is actually what I heard is it's gonna be built, they wanna build it near Broadview.

Okay, so that would be a county commissioner issue.

Well, anyway, it's such an important issue.

I I'll just go ahead and go on with it.

Um I'm asking you, please.

Um, all over the country, they're uh beginning to reject these data centers.

They the one that they want to build near Broadview would hog as much energy as the entire state of Montana.

I kid you not.

Um I think the company is called Grammarcy or something like that.

Um, and and when you have this skyrocketing demand, of course, the price, the cost of energy is gonna go up, uh it's gonna skyrocket us well.

And more importantly, we're gonna use up all our water uh in a in a short period of time, and we you know, we won't have water for future generations.

Um so uh just it's just something that's gonna, it's gonna come up over and over again in the next year, two, three years, and you're probably gonna see it in billings.

Some companies gonna come to you and request to build a data center, and they're gonna align the pockets of a few people, but these data centers don't create many jobs.

And um, let's see.

They just uh AI, the value of AI is actually uh quite questionable.

I know it's hip to be uh totally uh rah-raw AI, but um what we're seeing is Elon Musk, um, you know, building this groc, which is a tool to uh um set up imaginary porn for any woman that rubs you the wrong way, and then just post that over the internet so anybody in the world can see it.

Uh countries all uh there's several countries that are trying to ban uh X because of this.

Um, so anyway, uh AI has great potential for harm, and um the one of the biggest goals is to automate everybody's job, uh, including doctors, and so please just keep that in your uh on the back burner.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, my name is Sonia Davis, um, and I'm a downtown resident, and I um am up here today to speak about the incidences in Minneapolis.

Um after the uh the shooting of Renee Nicole Good.

Um I felt compelled to get a better idea of how our community responds when it comes to ICE cooperation.

The Billings Police Department and the Yellowstone County Sheriff both explained that there is uh basically a mutual aid agreement.

Um and that cooperation with ICE or immigration enforcement is reliant on uh uh uh an additional crime, like a crime that's been committed within the city or county.

Um I also asked who makes these decisions, who are who um when it comes to policy or changing policy.

And um the the county informed me that it was the um uh county commissioners as well as the sheriff.

Um and the officer I spoke to with the Billings Police Department said it was the chief of police and counsel.

So I come to you as the body that holds authority and power in this area to take a stand to reject um ICE cooperation because it makes our neighbors at danger.

There is um a two eighty seven G agreement that um uh governments can enter into uh agreement with law, like so law enforcement agencies, it's an agreement to collaborate with ICE and to enforce federal immigration laws.

There uh the county and the city are not in agreement on that right now, and I would like you to maintain that.

Um the other thing I want to bring up is House Bill 278.

Uh, this was passed last legislature, and the title of the bill says it requires peace officer to check and report immigration status during lawful stops.

Um as the law states that if there is a reasonable suspicion and when practicable to determine the immigration status of the person.

I think this is in direct violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

And I also think that this is something that should be discussed at council amongst the Billings Police Department because it does put our officers in a very precarious position and it puts the city at risk of civil rights violations and possible lawsuits.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any further comment.

Any further comment?

Seeing none, I'm going to close this portion of our hearing, our meeting, and seeing no council initiatives.

Councilmember Boyet.

I guess mine was more of a point of order.

There's a lot of uh commissions and uh uh council appointments and commissions, and some of the people may not know when these meet, where they meet.

So part of the program is I think they need to be proactive and find out when they when these groups meet.

Plus, if someone else is already on one of these committees, at least talk to the other council members that are going to be on to make sure that they know where the meeting is and the time and the place kind of thing.

Great point.

Seeing no raised hands, we are adjourned, and that's a good thing.